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There’s no doubt about it: for many of us, the “traditional workplace” is a thing of the past. With the shift into digital — whether it’s telecommuting or starting a business — one thing is certain: we’re spending less time in the office elevator. And with that, fewer opportunities to get in front of the boss, chat up that potential client in the elevator, or wax poetic on the subtleties of Return On Assets to the CFO.

How do you see and be seen, and promote yourself when you’re part of the virtual ether? Long ago, corporations learned that they needed to constantly monitor and manage their company’s brand in the public’s eye. As the elevator pitch moves from physical to digital delivery, what lessons can we draw from the world of corporate communication to help us establish and maintain our own virtual brands? We interviewed Christophe Ginisty, social media and digital transformation expert, to learn the parallels.

This was written with Meryl Draper.

Understand the landscape

According to Ginisty, the Internet is a blessing for brand managers for one simple reason: the ability to monitor everything. Ginisty comments: “We are all living in a world where we can identify what people think about what we do, when we do it.” Corporate or personal, establishing a brand begins with social listening in public spaces of information flow. “The most important point,” Ginisty states, “is to develop a permanent ability to listen to online conversations. Before developing online messaging, brands need to monitor what people are already saying about them.”

Lessons for individuals

For individuals, the concept is the same; find out what your name is associated with online across the Internet, including social media. Knowing what conversations and subjects your name is connected to enables you to take control of the direction of your brand. For example, say you’re launching a consulting company. If you know ahead of time that a search of your name uncovers your long-lost MySpace profile, complete with a butterfly background, then you can act to get some basic SEO going like setting up a Google+ profile (which better showcases your current strengths, instead of your poor taste in backgrounds). As Ginisty puts it, “Only when you have understood what people are commenting, will you be ready to engage and develop your online messaging,” referring to it as “filling the empty pieces of your personal puzzle.”

Think this is a one-time exercise? Heed the advice of France’s branding expert: “Be ready to monitor the evolution of your reputation on a daily basis and never stop listening.” Indeed, owning your own brand means staying up to date with the digital chatter, so that you can respond and react where appropriate.

The Value Proposition

After understanding what is (or isn’t) being said about you, defining your value proposition follows. In the startup world, defining precisely what you do, how you do it, and why it’s different can make or break your success. Personally, we both use the five-second rule. If it takes more than 5 seconds to understand a brand’s offering from any of its touch points—Facebook page, website, press release—we move on to a competitor.

Ginisty elaborates: “A good corporate value statement needs to say what the organization is fundamentally and how different it is, since a powerful corporate value statement could not be used by any of your competitors. It has to be consistent with what makes you so singular fundamentally, and it has to be disruptive and as specific as a DNA signature.”

Lessons for individuals

Like corporate brands, people should be able to articulate their personal brand’s value proposition to prospective clients and employers. The golden ticket is having your name be synonymous with elements of your messaging—Martha Stewart, for example, is synonymous with home and lifestyle. Take a page from Twitter: if you can’t sum up your expertise and core message in 140 characters or 5 seconds, expect your audience to move on. Keep this in mind when requesting a raise, or responding to the loathed question: “What is it, again, that you actually do here?”

Meryl saw the importance of a strong value statement first hand leading a messaging workshop for a startup in India. During the session, the three founders realized that they each had distinct visions of their company’s key differentiators in the market. Imagine the brand confusion as they independently went out to promote and seek investment for their company, each telling a different story. (The workshop, by the way, set everyone on the same page, and today the startup boasts six branches). Thankfully a personal brand is managed by a single person—you—but the lesson is the same: Define your value proposition, and stick to the story. In Karl’s experience it is very helpful to run your personal brand proposition by close colleagues and clients to see if they think it is you. Typically, they will be quick to point out where it is off and if it resonates with those who know you.

Consistency Across Social

Thinking that maybe you just wont get into this whole social media thing? That’s wrong thinking if you want to compete in today’s economy. Karl runs into a surprising number of Boomers who mock social media. If you’ve retired or are planning to be in the near future, fine. Otherwise, you better start embracing social media. For organizations and individuals alike, social media is the new elevator. “The point is not to decide to have a social media presence or not. Today, you have to have it,” explains Ginisty, on brands deciding whether or not to go social.

After taking the leap into the social media world, consistency is key. “Consistency,” Ginisty notes, “is a mix of three elements: what you say, how you act and how sincere is it. As far as sincerity is concerned, it is extremely important to infuse and share the messages throughout the entire organization and to let every employee become a potential brand ambassador. All surveys — and notably the Edelman Trust Barometer — indicate that a regular employee is far more trusted than the CEO of the same organization. So, be prepared to invest time and energy to educate your employees on what you want to express, and the values you intend to share.” Think about how often you have used Yelp or Urbanspoon to help you decide on whether you want to dine at a restaurant – typically. we value the opinion of the crowd more than the official website of the restaurant.

Lessons for individuals

Preliminary research should have uncovered all touch points to your own personal brand —namely the places that prospective clients or employers can and will use to find out more about you. Ginisty’s three-part rule applies here: what is being said, what is being done, and the authenticity of your message. This summer, Karl and his co-author Margaret Snell are finishing their book on Leading Millennials. A central finding of their research is that this generation is almost above all looking for authenticity in leaders and brands. To resonate with Millennials, deliver authenticity. In a future blog post we will talk more about this.

Ensure that every piece of content you push online reflects your core brand and value proposition. Next, cross-post that message across your social platforms to ensure maximum reach. There are a few creative ways of doing this, including putting your LinkedIn URL in your resume, including your Twitter handle on your email signature, creating an about.me page to link to all your public platforms and improve your SEO, among a multitude of other tactics. And finally, ensure that whatever it is you do, whether speaking at an event, networking, or interviewing, ties back to your core value proposition. Be your own personal brand manager.

Meryl Draper has crafted and executed branding strategies for high-technology companies across four continents, including Asia, Africa, North American and Europe. She now works in San Francisco at 6Sense, a Big Data and predictive analytics startup.